Fall term is just a couple weeks away, and while many have been enjoying summer trips and time away, work has been moving steadily on the University of Oregon’s strategic plan.
A year after it was launched, the strategic planning process, dubbed “UO Onward” brought together input from faculty, staff, students, alumni and other stakeholders. Now, with that input, and with the focused work of academic and administrative leaders over many months, the UO is nearing the debut of the final product: a plan that outlines the aspirations, goals, principles and areas of focus for the next chapter.
“This plan is our foundation,” President Karl Scholz said. “It provides a framework to enhance the already outstanding work occurring at the University of Oregon and will guide our future as we seek to have an even greater impact on our students and the world.
“I am extremely grateful for all the input, discussion and time given by so many as we developed the plan.”
Named “Oregon Rising,” the strategic plan establishes four key goal areas focused on service to students, the state of Oregon, faculty and staff, and the impact of the UO’s scholarship on society. The goals include enhancing pathways to timely graduation, being a leader in career preparation, creating a flourishing community — all foundational to students’ individual and collective success.
The plan also features a fourth goal with specific focus on the university’s current and potential strengths in innovation and research that has the potential for significant societal benefit. These include four signature areas of scholarship: environmental resilience, youth behavioral and mental health, human performance and sport, and accelerating innovation and scientific impact.
Together, these four goals (and four areas of signature scholarship) create a road map that can align the efforts of the organization and propel the university forward.
“Oregon Rising represents the highest aspirations of the University,” Provost Christopher P. Long said, “and I look forward to working with President Scholz and leaders at every level of our campus community to bring the promise of this plan to life through purposeful, values-based action.”
Timeline of the strategic plan:
- Fall 2023: Engagement to help shape the key elements of the plan took place over the 2023-24 academic year. In the fall, a series of input sessions and online surveys gathered perspectives and ideas on a set of 10 proposed goals set under three priorities. Twenty-five facilitated sessions were held and more than 1,200 people provided input.
- Winter 2024: Goals were revised based on input gathered from students, faculty, staff, alumni and other university stakeholders. The president appointed goal teams to create draft institution-level key performance indicators and propose broad strategies.
- Spring 2024: A community survey sent in late spring shared the final goals and solicited input to inform the implementation phase of the planning process. The responses were overwhelmingly positive with over 80% of respondents indicating the goals, as revised, were responsive to input and reflected their personal values.
- Summer 2024: The deans, vice presidents and vice provosts focused on revising and finalizing strategies and key performance indicators, and on identifying a set of implementation principles responsive to operational themes that emerged in the earlier steps of the planning process. The principles will serve as guidelines or operational rules for how to collectively work toward the goals and implement the strategies.
With the plan now nearing completion, the real work begins. The president and provost are engaging with leadership of every school, college, division and department to actualize the work. There will be continual opportunities for engagement by the campus community, leveraging faculty and staff's expertise and students' experience to help align school/college/division and departments’ priorities, activities and resources.
An implementation team has been created, and key milestones specific to academic year 2024-25 are being developed for each strategy.
President Scholz and campus leaders will include information about the plan in remarks to the board of trustees at 9 a.m. Monday, Sept. 16.
In mid-October, the university will launch a comprehensive website outlining the goals, strategies and performance indicators for Oregon Rising. This site will be updated regularly to share progress made toward our goals, feedback and evaluation.